09 April 2015

Taneda Santōka (1882 -1940)

Taneda Santōka once wrote in his journal:

"Today, I've composed 10 haiku, of course they're about as good as broken pieces of tile, but they may shine as much as a piece of tile can, and my job is to polish, polish,polish them until they shine"leaves fall from the trees-I keep on walkingno one to meet-the path worsenscan't do anything else-I just keep walkingbecoming a frog-and jumpinga bird comes once-and does not singall day in the mountains-ants are also walkingsnow falls on snow-silenceoccasionally-the sound of drinking sakéis lonelymen and womenalone with their shadows-dancingwhen you live alone-green green are the grasses